The Story of Carlos Garcia and His Helmet
by beautiful.and.freaky
Summary: When things start to crumble in a boy's life, his first instinct is to hide his pain, wanting no one to see how much he suffers and how vulnerable he is. Although, this does not apply to Carlos Garcia on the day he lost his famous black hockey.


**A/N:** To hopefully understand this one-shot, please disregard some things in the actual television show that might disagree with the story, such as the plot of Carlos and his dad finding the missing helmet in "Big Time Break", the fact that Carlos added a GPS in his helmet to help him find it anywhere in "Big Time Break-Up", and the mention of Carlos having more than one helmet in "Big Time Strike".

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own Big Time Rush or any of its characters.<strong>

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><p><strong><span>The Story of Carlos Garcia and His Helmet<span>**

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><p>Looking for a black hockey helmet is not the ideal way for Kendall Knight, James Diamond, and Logan Mitchell to spend their day-off. However, their friend was thinking differently as he searched for his treasured object in their apartment.<p>

For the past few hours since the morning, the four members of Big Time Rush looked for the protective gear that belonged to one of them. Of course, three of them were starting to get annoyed and already planned to end the search. Still, their friend was clearly not giving up even if there wasn't going to be any help.

"You'll find it eventually," Kendall spoke first.

James patted the back of their friend, who was currently rummaging in a pile of dirty laundry, throwing clothes everywhere. "I'm sure it's around here somewhere. You probably just misplaced it."

"What's so important about it anyways?" Logan questioned with a roll of his eyes, not intending to hurt the worried boy.

Immediately following the short brunet's harmless interrogation, Carlos Garcia shot his head towards the last speaker while gnarling through his clenched teeth. For once in his life, the Latino was certainly not at peace after hearing his friend's question. There was a sudden rage of anger that grew inside him and wanted to tear Logan apart, but there was still something inside him that held him back to do just that.

Carlos growled as he gotten closer to the face of his prey. "_What did you just ask me?_"

Taken aback, Logan took a giant step away from his friend and closer to the tall blond, who was watching with such surprise at the unexpected accusation. "I just wanted to know why you want to find your helmet now during our rarely given day-off," he said in reply, talking hesitantly.

At that moment, something snapped in Carlos that broke him into pieces. He wasn't that tough guy who wanted everything and gets it anymore, but he was rather that sensitive guy who pours our his emotions so easily whenever he loses a loved one. And although that wasn't the case, the way he treated that black hockey helmet showed how much it was like an actual person who meant the whole world to him.

His knees were starting to shake uncontrollable beneath the Latino, and he knew he was about to cave in and sob anytime soon. "Tommy... Died..."

Kendall, James, and Logan exchanged looks of confusion at each other. Their friend's comment made no sense to them. They never thought that their was a connection between the protective gear and their friend's younger brother who died way before they all left for Los Angeles when he was an eight-year-old.

"I just need to find my helmet, okay?" Carlos cried out in agonizing pain, talking to no one in particular. In fact, it looked as if he was yelling at a haunting ghost who teased him with every wrong move that he makes.

"Carlos, Carlos, Carlos..." Kendall repeated slowly in an attempt to calm their friend down. "We'll help you, all right? Just—"

The Latino shook his head reluctantly just before he lost his balance and was caught by James. "I need my helmet now!" And just like that, his visions started to blur as wet hot tears were forming and covering his eyes. "I just need it..." he sobbed, breathing unevenly.

Not wanting to see how much the friend in his arms was hurting, James came up with a wild idea. "Can't we just buy him another black hockey helmet?" he suggested to the other two.

Eventually, Carlos slipped out of the tall brunet's grips, which caused him to sit on the hardwood floor of their apartment, feeling like a broken toy that had been left on a dusty old shelf. "Tommy..." he spoke out in between sobs.

"Carlos, I'm sorry!" Logan pleaded as he went down on both knees, hoping to soothe the boy's pain. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. If their friend wasn't going to be his usual self anytime soon, Logan might as well be in a breakdown, too. "Forget what I said, okay? We'll help you find it."

"—and he wanted to be a hockey player, too! But his dreams were crushed after he slipped off an ocean reef near the shore and drowned..." Carlos talked to himself, seeming as if he had not heard Logan and figured he should just continue on with his misery. "I even promised him that I'll help with the training!"

By this time, the other two were down on their knees, surrounding their friend. "_Carlos!_" they shouted all at different times, wanting to grab his attention.

Carlos shook his head once again. This time, however, it seemed as if he was done with all the pain, like it was finally coming to an end. "It's all my fault," he mumbled, sniffling. "I should have stopped it. I was near, too."

Kendall, James, and Logan looked at each other for a moment, agreeing on something. Carlos was nowhere near his baby brother on the day of the incident. They would know because they were there as well, and they remembered the four of them helping out to set up all of their stuff in a picnic area while Kendall's and Carlos's parents were helping the other kids and James's and Logan's parents went out to buy something.

Soon enough, it was as if Logan's question that started the insanity was finally answered: "Tommy always wore my black hockey helmet at home even though it was clearly too big for his head," Carlos said in between hysterical chuckles.

And so it was then settled. For now on, whenever Carlos loses his helmet, his friends will always be there for him to help.

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><p>"I'm going to kill her," Logan muttered under his own breath on that very same day.<p>

"Me, too," James agreed, releasing an exhausted breath.

Kendall shook his head at his two friends. "You can't do that. I won't let you."

"I don't think we care that she's your baby sister," James replied.

"If it wasn't for her, Carlos wouldn't have panicked earlier and went into a breakdown," Logan snapped back at the tall blond, too tired to get up and slap the back of his head.

Kendall rolled his eyes. He was fully aware that the two were only kidding themselves, but he still wouldn't let the figure of speech pass. "_If it wasn't for my baby sister, Carlos would never have found his black hockey helmet and stopped his panicking and breakdown_," he corrected them.

And he was right because in front of their eyes was the usual energized, happy, and innocent Carlos Garcia playing a card game of Go Fish with Katie Knight and his black hockey helmet as if today was just a normal day.

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><p><strong>AN:** I'm sorry if the ending is terrible. I just really can't stand imagining Carlos being a trainwreck since his character is so sweet and carefree... Other than that, reviews are always lovely. :)


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